The artwork titled “Cheetah with Two Indian Servants and a Stag,” created by George Stubbs around 1765, is an oil painting on canvas. This piece, which belongs to the Romanticism art movement, measures 206 by 274 cm and is categorized under the genre of animal painting. It is currently housed in the Manchester Art Gallery in Manchester, UK.
The artwork depicts a dramatic and finely detailed scene in which two Indian servants stand in the company of a cheetah and a stag. The composition is set against a backdrop of rugged, mountainous terrain under a cloudy sky. The cheetah, adorned with a red hood and restrained by one of the servants, exudes a sense of contained energy and alertness. One servant, cloaked in white garments and turban, engages with the other servant in what appears to be a directed and purposeful conversation, perhaps in preparation for a hunt. The stag, poised with an alert stance near a body of water, heightens the tension and imminent sense of an unfolding event. The interplay of natural light and shadow across the figures and landscape enhances the realism and depth of the scene, characteristic of Stubbs’ mastery in capturing the essence of animals within their natural settings.
